Chapter 14
Previous Chapter The brown haired girl's lips were moving. Kaz couldn't make out what she was saying. But they were surrounded by chaos. Icicles littered the sky, plummeting at deadly speed towards them. Twisting pillars of flame rose from the ground. The frozen, jagged shards melted before they could pierce them, showering the two instead in warm water. A barrage of rocks was heading their way. The girl's twinkling eyes didn't even blink as the rocks flew at them at a terrifying velocity. They impacted a wall of earth that suddenly shot out the ground. Figures around them were being lifted into the air by whirlwinds. She never broke her gaze. He looked into her sparkling eyes with pain in his heart. Her moving lips were speaking sentences, but all he could hear was, "Kaz..." "Kaz..." “Kaz!” Kaz’s eyes reluctantly fluttered open. A vast, orange horizon spanned his view. His eyes were still half closed, but the scenery reminded him of a glorious sunset. Kaz always had a love for nature; the sight signifying to him the symbolism of the light of day being the most dazzling and beautiful at the last moments before fading away into the darkness. Truly, it’s the majestic combination of the small things that make life worth living- -*''Shudder''*- A sudden frigid coldness ran down Kaz’s spine as he felt a wet finger in his ear. “What the-?!” He jumped up, yelping. When he fell back into his chair, it tilted back, sending him sprawling backwards onto the floor. Kaz looked up to see Cindy and Kyosuke howling with laughter. Kuroi was chuckling silently. Karina stood above him, rolling her eyes disapprovingly but clearly trying very hard to contain herself. “And that’s how you do it, folks!” Kyosuke bowed. “I call it Water Element: Mind Snap Technique!” He wiped his wet finger off on his shirt and grinned at Kaz. “So, how was your daydream? Did I manage to stop you from kissing your true love?” “Okay guys, that was not necessary,” Kaz grumbled, picking himself up from the floor. “Don’t you have work to do?” “Kyosuke the broom master, at your service!” Kyosuke showed Kaz the broom he was using to sweep the floor. Kaz could never understand how he was always so cheerful, even after a long day of work. He looked around. It was already nightfall, and the employees of Maple Tea Café were closing up the store. He wondered how long he had been sleeping for. “If anything, you are the one who still has work to do. We made sure to leave the dirtiest dishes for you to clean,” Kyosuke gestured to the kitchen, beaming. “Alright, alright.” Kaz tried to clean out his violated ear with a napkin as he picked up the remaining dishes from the room. “First you’re late, then you doze off, and then you don’t wake up after me practically screaming your name. Are you okay?” Cindy asked quizzically. “You’ve been daydreaming a lot, haven’t you?” “I think Kaz has a new crush, dontcha Kaz?” Kyosuke teased while emptying out a dustpan. “Did a customer catch your eye and magically send you into a slumber?” Kaz frowned, thinking. That was strange. He couldn’t clearly recall the events that led to him dozing off. He was having a conversation with Cindy when his mind started wandering. Something had been bothering him about last night… “Alright everyone, focus on your duties and leave Kaz alone,” Karina’s stern voice interrupted Kaz’s train of thought. “And Kaz, you have got to stop zoning out like that, it’s been getting really frequent.” The employees returned to their cleaning duties. Kaz stacked the dishes while Cindy wiped down the tables. Kuroi meticulously organized the ingredients fridge as Kyosuke ran from corner to corner, grunting out strange noises as he swept the hard to reach places. Karina was bent over a desk with a stack of papers. “Kaz, hurry up so you can help me with my homework!” Cindy quipped. “It’s math and English, my worst subjects.” “I think every subject is tied for your worst, Cindy,” Kyosuke chuckled. “Kaz might as well be taking your class instead with all the help he’s been giving you.” “It’s not like you’re doing so hot in school,” Cindy retorted, sticking out her tongue. “Besides, Kaz probably understands this stuff better than my teachers do!” “Say Kaz, why aren’t you in school anyways?” Kyosuke inquired. “Someone like you should be able to easily ace the courses at the community college. Who knows, you might be able to get a Stanford degree just like Karina!” “Stanford? Screw that, I think Kaz could even get into Lance Academy!” Cindy exclaimed. “Why don’t you apply?” Karina whistled, looking up from her paperwork. “Well, I can’t just sit here and let my alma mater get dissed like that.” “Well it is Lance Academy,” Kuroi spoke in his calm, soothing voice. “I mean, I first heard about the place while I was in Tokyo. It’s got quite the reputation, and it being located here in Terrace Grove would make it convenient for Kaz.” “You’re talking as if Kaz already got in,” Karina chuckled with a smile. “Although, Kaz, you actually might have a shot at even Lance. You’ve got a lot of potential, I really wonder why you waste it all daydreaming and sleeping.” Lance Academy. An institution of learning whose name brand recently triumphed over those of the world’s most prestigious universities. Located in Terrace Grove, its rapidly rising prestige quickly made it the pride of the city. And it wasn’t difficult to see why. The Academy was widely known as a training ground for prodigies and individuals with high potential. Many of these students would go on to achieve fame and prominence in their fields of talent; numerous recent groundbreaking developments in science were pioneered by Lance Academy students, and a considerable number of championship titles in athletic competitions are currently held by the institution’s graduates. While much of the academy’s training process for its students is kept secret from the public, it is known that graduating from Lance Academy doesn’t require one to complete a set amount of courses. Instead, to graduate, one must demonstrate that they have reached their potential. Impressively, many students graduate before they are even at the traditional university age. At that point, they are instantaneously accepted to the university of their choosing, where they proceed to utterly dominate over their classmates before impacting the world with their unleashed potential. Indeed, Lance Academy has been associated with legendary success, and people from around the world dream of being accepted into the institution and unlocking their full potential. Kaz had to admit to himself that he had indeed fantasized before about the possibility of being admitted into what was being considered the greatest institution of learning in the world. “Wait just a minute, how the subject become getting into Lance Academy so fast?” Kaz noticed that he had suddenly become the center of the discussion. It made him uncomfortable whenever others started discussing his future in front of him. “I can’t even get into college right now! Besides, I think I’m way over the age cap for Lance. I mean, I’m already in my twenties, and a lot of the kids who graduated from are barely my age!” Kuroi looked thoughtful. “Well don’t let that be a limit. There are plenty of students still there who are your age.” “Yeah!” Cindy exclaimed. “There are a few movie stars who are still students there! I can’t remember their names, but I do know that they’re even older than you though!” “Now that I think about it, the recently crowned chess champion and tennis champion both only just graduated, according to the news,” Kyosuke added. “They’ve both got at least a year on you.” “I don’t like how that place has pretty much surpassed my alma mater in fame,” Karina sighed. “But their graduates are ridiculous. Two of them were in my class at Stanford. I was expecting to be the youngest in my class as usual, but both of them were in their late teens. They didn’t even have to go through undergrad like I did, they were admitted straight away.” “I wonder what goes on in that place to make those students so successful,” Cindy bit the tip of her thumb as she pondered. “The place is so famous, but so much of it is kept secret from the public.” “A place that provides all the resources for individuals of high potential to push their limits. That aspect in itself is all the explanation we need.” Kuroi concluded. “But if Kaz gets in, he’ll be able to fill us in on the details.” Kaz’s discomfort over the conversation was growing. “Look, there’s no way I can get in. I mean, yeah, there are students older than me. But they got in at a young age! I have nothing to show them to have them even consider me!” “Well, no one really knows their criteria for acceptance besides them,” Kyosuke replied. “I heard this one guy had a super high IQ and was flat out rejected despite proving how smart he was. Like he was able to think ridiculously fast.” “Maybe it’s because he didn’t do something really big with all that intellect first?” Kuroi added. “Yeah… just imagine all the ridiculously huge and cool things that you’d be able to do after being trained there!” Kyosuke had a dreamy expression on his face. “I would be so awesome. Almost more awesome than I already am!” “Well, I don’t know if I could do something big to even get their attention anyways.” Kaz sighed. “Despite how much of a slacker you are, you do strike me as a person who needs to do big things to be happy and content,” Karina noted. “Aw c’mon! There are lots of ways to be happy without doing something huge!” Cindy chirped happily. “Just take each day one at a time and never take for granted the small things in life!” After thinking for a bit, she added, “And your life goals should always involve love! Always!” Her eyes misted over as she sighed dreamily, “One day, I will meet the love of my life. A dashing, handsome, intelligent man who will buy me roses and chocolates when I least expect it!” “Hey, I do have a name you know,” Kyosuke interjected. “But you’re gonna have to wait on the flowers and candy ‘cause I gotta save up for that new MMO coming out.” Cindy threw a towel at Kyosuke. “As if! You wish you could be that cool! My ideal man would sweep me off my feet in seconds!” “You’re in luck, m’lady!” Kyosuke picked up his broom by the handle and swiped towards Cindy’s feet. She wearing shorts, and the bristles scraped against the skin of her exposed legs. “Y’owch!” Cindy jumped up, yelping in surprise. Kyosuke checked his watch. “Well, I don’t know if anyone else was timing that, but I’d say that was a few seconds,” Kyosuke grinned at Cindy. “Whaddya think?” Cindy cheeks flushed with… rage? Kaz couldn’t quite put his finger on what shade of red could best describe the color of her face, and what emotion it would correspond to. It came down to a tie between crimson and scarlet. He decided that wrath was the feeling that she was emanating. “KYOSUKE!” Cindy bellowed, her normally high-pitched voice dropping several octaves. “I JUST SHAVED THIS MORNING, NOW I MIGHT GET INGROWN HAIRS!” “Uh-oh. Kyosuke away!” Kyosuke placed his broomstick between his legs and made whooshing noises while frantically waddling away from an enraged Cindy. Karina shook her head as the two ran around the room and outside the café. “Young people these days.” She looked out of window towards night sky. The lights in the café were dimmed, and the main source of illumination in the room came from the full moon beaming through the window. After a long silence, Karina turned back to look directly at Kaz. “Back to the topic though, one of my regrets is that I never explored the option of applying for Lance Academy when I was younger. All that rushing through school and skipping grades… I can’t help but wonder if all of that potential could have been developed better elsewhere.” “Well, you’re doing pretty good now,” Kaz replied. “I mean, just look at the café you started! It’s a huge hit!” “Well, seeing how far we’ve come, it does make me feel better about the years I spent in regret,” Karina smiled. The moonlight caught her face, flooding it in a pale glow that accentuated her milky white complexion. She looked at Kaz thoughtfully before continuing. “Nonetheless, the pain of feeling that you have never reached your full potential is a force to be reckoned with. Although I’m quite happy with how far Maple Tea Café has come, it’s still difficult to face parents, peers, and… well, everyone who expected a lot more out of a child prodigy with a degree from Stanford.” Kaz furrowed his eyebrows. “Who cares about what they think? You can do fine on your own, and you’ll show them eventually.” Kuroi’s calm and deep voice smoothly interrupted the conversation. “Kaz, Karina is trying to make you see that you should take strides to at least try to maximize your abilities. If anything, someone like her seeing potential in you is far from trivial. And I can relate to her when it comes to the pain of feeling like you’ve never achieved your own potential.” The pale moonlight shining through the window slowly faded as clouds drifted over the full moon, obscuring it. Kuroi sighed as he continued speaking, running a hand through his unusually straight hair. “Back in Tokyo, I was told that I had considerable talent as a sushi chef from the moment I started training. I even competed on a popular sushi competition show.” “Oh yeah, I remember Kyosuke and Cindy giggling over a clip they found of you,” Kaz added thoughtfully. Kuroi made a face before continuing. "That was back when it first started. I was winning each contest. I could feel it. Sushi making was my life at the time, and I had trained extensively with my sensei. I knew that I understood the art better than my competitors. But the backlash from the viewers and the production crew was too much for me to handle. They didn't like seeing a foreigner..." Kuroi broke off mid-sentence. The room filled with silence during his pause. After what seemed like an eternity, he continued, "Especially an obvious foreigner like me, part of a race that a lot of them have never seen in real life, beating them at a tradition that they held dear to their own cultural identity. It made sense. All my victories were met with scorn. I gave up my dream, my talent, and decided to go to a land where people like myself were still fighting for a presence, but at least not fighting alone." "Well, I mean at least the competition show put you on there in the first place." Kaz tried to make the situation sound better. He immediately regretted his words. "No, obviously I was just used for publicity. To attract viewers to a novelty. I knew my role, and I didn't mind, but when the show producers saw that the criticism towards my victories and skills was putting doubt on the validity of the competition, I lost support. I voluntarily withdrew." Kuroi sighed as he continued. "I gave up my dreams. I lost the chance to reach my potential at my passion. Now I don't know what your passion is, or what you're good at, but there definitely is something about you that's making all of us suggest you try out for Lance." Kaz wondered if his control over the wind had something to do with this. Apart from his supernatural ability, which he took great strides in keeping secret, he wasn't sure what kind of potential his friends were seeing in him. "Alright, alright, I'll do it. I'll look into applying for Lance Academy first thing tomorrow." Kaz said, still feeling a bit reluctant. It might be that Kaz saw the opportunity as a waste of time and effort. He felt content with his current life and friends, and was fine if everything stayed the same. But in the back of his mind, Kaz also felt that this chance would bring about a change that he desperately needed. Perhaps this challenge would bring Kaz some answers about himself. While he knew about the past lives of his friends, he barely knew about his own. He had just accepted that he had powers. His daydreams were becoming significantly more frequent. They showed familiar faces. But he didn't know who they were. The visions showed familiar events. But he couldn't remember what they were about. Next Chapter